Why should mountains be a special focus in UNCED: A brief introduction to the rationale for Mountain Agenda

The first UN Conference on the environment found itself exploring new ground in international affairs against a background of undisguised scepticism on the part of many governments. The primary drive was to establish that environmental concerns affected both rich and poor countries, and that they were real and likely to grow.

Twenty years of history have shown the validity of the Stockholm Conference approach which necessarily had to highlight the more striking of the environmental concerns of the time. Mountains did not feature, nor did acid rain, ozone or global climatic change. Views on several issues were in the process of transition. For example, a focus on species conservation was only just giving way to a realization that habitats were more fundamental.

UNCED 1992 has different concerns. It is not now utopian to talk of planetary management since global systems have demonstrably been disturbed today a more comprehensive approach to environmental questions is being taken. The attempt to establish an agenda for the 21st Century implies in itself that all significant environmental problems must be addressed. Mountains matter because they are related to a large number of major present day environmental problems.